Interesting bit was that they plainly announced that two large vessels disappear each week! Clearly not held in the same regard as aircraft, do large ships have the maritme equivalent of a blackbox data recorder?

.......lost for words. I followed this link and a few others all of which describe the ever increasing frequency of such waves. It's quite frightening really especially for those of us who on ocassion enjoy some "blue water" jaunts.

IMO regulations mean that black boxes or "Vessel Data Recorders" are now being introduced but I suspect that many ships don't have 'em. http://www.ruttertech.com/ is a manufacturer of VDR's if anyone is interested but as they cost £100k a pop maybe not worth fitting to your RIB quite yet!